With the digitization on various devices and the improvements in integration techniques in recent years, cameras capable of digital recording of still and moving images, i.e., digital still cameras and digital video cameras, have become widespread. The affinity of digital recording with other media is high and there are increasing consumer uses of digital recording such as printing with a printer and distribution over a network.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a camera cuts out a portion of a scene 1001 and stores the clipped portion as image data. This is called framing from the meaning of the process in which the cameraperson's operation determines the cut-out position according to his/her image-taking idea and sets a cut-out frame 1002 in the scene. Factors in determination of framing are four: the position 1003 of the camera; the direction 1004 of the camera; the angle 1005 of the camera (held horizontally, held vertically or held obliquely); and the angle of view 1006 from the camera. In these factors, the position of the camera is adjusted by tracking 1008 (leftward/rightward horizontal movement), booming 1009 (vertical movement) and dollying 1010 (frontward/rearward horizontal movement), as shown in the table 1007 of FIG. 1B and in FIG. 1C. The direction of the camera is adjusted by panning 1011 (horizontal turning on a camera center) and tilting 1012 (vertical turning on the camera center), as shown in FIG. 1D. The rotation of the camera is adjusted by rolling 1013 (rotation on the optical axis), as shown in FIG. 1D. The angle of view from the camera is adjusted by dollying 1010 and zooming 1014. For this zooming, optical zoom performed by changing the focal length of the optical system and electronic zoom based on image processing are used. As described above, framing is determined by the cameraperson performing the seven kinds of camera work from tracking 1008 to zooming 1014.
The six kinds of camera work (tracking 1008 to rolling 1013) other than zooming are executed by the cameraperson moving the camera. In zooming 1014 by which the view angle is adjusted, it is necessary for the cameraperson to input commands to the camera as to whether or not the view angle will be increased or reduced and the degree to which the view angle will be changed. A dial operation is ordinarily used to do so (see, for example, Non Patent Reference 1). That is, a still camera 1101 or a movie camera 1102 presently put on the market has a multifocal lens 1103 and is capable of changing the view angle by turning a lens casing 1103 as shown in FIG. 2A, sliding the lens casing 1103 as shown in FIG. 2B, sliding a button 1106 as shown in FIG. 2C or turning a dial 1107 as shown in FIG. 2D. For checking framing, a finder 1108 is used as shown in FIGS. 2E and 2F to enable the cameraperson to check a taken image with his/her eyes.
Non Patent Reference 1: PENTAX Corporation, *istDs user's manual (p. 48), [by search on Nov. 7, 2005], Internet<URL:http://www.pentax.co.jp/japan/support/man-pdf/ist ds.pdf>